Ten minutes later.
Yu Xiaxing and Yu Zheng crawled one after the other through a narrow passage on the roof. They could only hunch over and inch forward.
Yu Xiaxing whispered, “You brought me here to climb through a water pipe?”
Yu Zheng puffed up with pride. “This isn’t a water pipe. It’s a maintenance passage. I haven’t been managing the property for nothing lately—I’ve gained a deep understanding of the building’s structure. A lot of the equipment and piping installed later runs through the ceiling maintenance level. I can tell at a glance where the maintenance access points are in buildings like this.”
Yu Xiaxing said, “Great. Grandpa’s competition really does build character!”
At last, the two of them reached a spot above a ventilation grille.
They lowered their heads and looked down.
As expected, there was a small auction hall below, with around twenty people seated inside.
They spotted Qin Mei! She was sitting upright in the second row.
Beside her was indeed an old man with a full head of white hair, though he looked remarkably energetic.
Yu Xiaxing lowered her voice. “Is he Professor Zhong?”
Yu Zheng took a look as well. “Probably. Qin Mei seems very close to him.”
Yu Xiaxing nodded, pulled out her phone, and started recording.
She could openly admit that her actions were motivated, at least in part, by revenge. She hoped to gather some evidence of Qin Mei’s crimes and send her to prison!
Huo Mian had killed her Tang Tuan, and the reason Huo Mian had acted that way was because she had absorbed that twisted habit from her mother—turning love into harm.
So if she got the chance to send Qin Mei to prison, she absolutely had to seize it.
-
The host auctioned off several antiques in succession: antique jewelry, porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, and the like.
Qin Mei continued to sit beside Professor Zhong with a gentle smile, never taking the initiative to say that she wanted anything.
When an antique gold-thread ring worth around five hundred thousand yuan came up for auction, Professor Zhong said to Qin Mei, “Ms. Qin, you helped me find the value in life again. I’d like to give you a gift to show my gratitude. Do you like this gold-thread ring?”
Qin Mei shook her head. “There’s no need to spend money on me. I don’t like wearing jewelry.”
Professor Zhong looked at Qin Mei with even greater approval.
“Ladies and gentlemen, next up is the final item of the day—and the most important item in the entire auction.”
The host’s voice suddenly became solemn.
Two staff members carefully carried out a tray covered with red cloth.
The host placed both hands on either side of the tray and first took a deep breath.
His expression was grave, though he could barely contain his excitement. “This item should never have appeared here in the first place.”
“It is too precious, and too sensitive.”
“If not for fate—and if not for the fact that every teacher present possesses a sincere and upright heart—our organizers would never have dared reveal it.”
The people below grew serious as well.
The two young men sitting behind Professor Zhong even craned their necks to get a better look.
At last, the host slowly lifted the red cloth.
Beneath it was a black stone about the size of a watermelon, its surface uneven and jagged.
When the lights shone on it, tiny points of fiery light suddenly flickered across its surface, as though flames were burning inside the stone.
-
Yu Xiaxing, still at the mouth of the passage, noticed the patterns as well. She whispered, “It looks a bit like sodalite.”
Yu Zheng nodded. There were several pieces in the garden at home. They looked beautiful under the lights, and they weren’t expensive.
How could something like this possibly be put up for auction?
The two continued watching.
-
The host said, “This raw stone was discovered by our people in an area connected to the remaining veins of China’s dragon ley lines.”
“It is a condensation of the earth’s vital energy—a treasure formed at the very heart of the dragon veins!”
Yu Xiaxing and Yu Zheng pinched each other’s arms to keep from bursting out laughing.
Yet the people below all looked solemn. Not one of them laughed. Their eyes remained fixed on the stone.
The host continued explaining how important dragon veins were, and even cited numerous examples proving that they truly existed. Ancient emperors, he said, had believed in them deeply.
After finishing his explanation, the host added, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are putting this raw stone up for auction today only as a last resort.”
“Protecting it requires funding, and the organization simply can’t shoulder the burden any longer.”
“Preserving it also requires someone with genuine courage and responsibility to step forward.”
“The decision is in your hands!”
Qin Mei sighed. “That’s the problem with some young people nowadays. They’re neither loyal nor filial. For the sake of money, they’ll even stoop to selling off a dragon-vein stone.”
Professor Zhong gripped his bidding paddle tightly. “Don’t worry. I won’t let this item fall into foreign hands.”
The host began. “The opening bid is one million yuan!”
The disloyal and unfilial young man immediately raised his paddle. “Two million!”
“Two million four hundred thousand!” The young man beside him raised his paddle as well and said in a low voice, “I absolutely won’t let you do anything that harms the interests of the country!”
“Three million!” the disloyal young man provoked him. “Do you think I don’t know exactly how much money you have? You’re out of options, aren’t you?”
After a moment of righteous indignation, the other man turned to encourage the rest of the room. “Is anyone else going to bid? He’s a lapdog of the Rainbow Kingdom! We can’t let the dragon-vein stone be sent overseas!”
Quite a few of the elderly people were genuinely stirred up and began bidding.
After several rounds of escalation, the disloyal young man called out, “Nine million five hundred thousand!”
At that point, Professor Zhong finally entered the bidding.
“Ten million!”
The host was ecstatic. “Mr. Gu has bid ten million! In the end, it still takes someone like Mr. Gu! This is the sense of responsibility of an old man who has weathered the storms of an era—a sense of responsibility toward his homeland, his native soil, and the generations to come!”
…
Inside the passage.
Yu Xiaxing glanced at Yu Zheng. “So he isn’t Professor Zhong?”
“I didn’t expect that either…” Yu Zheng said. “This Mr. Gu should be one of the elderly people Third Brother is trying to renew a contract with. I think I’ve heard him mention it before.”
Yu Xiaxing said, “That old man is so rich. He just casually pulled out ten million…”
She herself had been racking her brain and deliberately courting disaster every day over a one-million-yuan severance payment. That one million still felt impossibly far away…
An old man had casually taken out ten million to buy a worthless rock.
Yu Zheng said, “Our city of Pu is a top-tier economic city. Many elderly people here acquired several properties through relocation compensation when they were young. If they don’t plan to leave everything to their children, taking out ten million isn’t a burden for them.”
Elderly people like this tend to have a deep sense of patriotism. In their youth, they had lived through times when there wasn’t enough food to eat. It was only because the country developed that they were gradually able to live well, and they were grateful to their nation for it.
Then, when they reached middle age, the city suddenly began developing. With the compensation they received for demolition and relocation, a fortune seemed to fall from the sky. Just like that, they came to possess enormous real estate holdings without having to work for them—a benefit brought about by the country’s development.
As for the auction house and that Rainbow Nation lackey playing the villain, they were clearly part of a scam operation.
They had taken advantage of the old man’s patriotism and tailored an impassioned script specifically for him.
It allowed him, in the twilight of his life, to play a national hero protecting the dragon vein—only to swindle him out of his entire life savings...
Yu Xiaxing continued filming. Once she was done, she would send the footage to Yu Zhining and have him go after Qin Mei.
